Apr 18, 2016 3 min read

A judge will decide whether prosecutors can use the contents of jailhouse letters against a Jefferson Township man in his trial next month in the fatal shooting of his brother.

Robert Jay Bauduin’s ex-girlfriend, Mary Ann Crawford, of Wellsburg, W.Va., turned over more than 200 pages Bauduin sent her from the Washington County jail to authorities late last month.

Assistant Public Defender Rose Semple, who is representing Bauduin, 47, is seeking to exclude the letters from Bauduin’s trial.

Semple argued during a hearing Friday before Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle that Crawford acted on behalf of state police when she corresponded with Bauduin, violating his right to consult an attorney.

“Part of my argument is that Mary Ann Crawford was purposely trying to solicit incriminating information from him in her letters,” Semple said.

Prosecutors, along with Crawford and a state trooper who also testified, disputed this characterization.

“To describe Mary Ann Crawford as an informant in this case is completely off the map,” said Assistant District Attorney Leslie Ridge.

The letters were written in the year following the alleged homicide.

It’s unclear what incriminating statements Bauduin purportedly made in the letters. First Assistant District Attorney Chad Schneider said the letters contain “several interpretations” of the incident.

DiSalle agreed to put off ruling on whether to exclude the letters from the trial to allow Semple additional time to submit additional documents or case law as part of her argument.

The judge said testimony he heard Friday didn’t show there was an understanding or agreement between Crawford and police for her to provide them with information.

“I don’t find any agreement, explicit or implicit,” he said.

Bauduin faces a charge of criminal homicide in connection with the Nov. 30, 2013, shooting death of his brother, Richard Bauduin Jr., at the house on Bethel Ridge Road, where Robert Bauduin lived with his father.

Police said Bauduin was arguing with his father and brother for much of the day and he admitted to the shooting to a 911 dispatcher and later to state police who questioned him.

Bauduin’s trial was set to begin last week, but was continued until May 9; Semple asked for the additional time to review the letters and file a motion to suppress them.

Crawford talked to Bauduin on the phone the day of the shooting. She spoke to state police at her house following the shooting and on the phone in late December 2013, Trooper Sarah Teagarden said.

Semple cited a report Teagarden filed after the second conversation with Crawford. Semple said the document showed there was an “implied understanding” that following that conversation Crawford would write to Bauduin on behalf of state police.

Teagarden testified Crawford said in that conversation she would contact police if she had more information, but police never made an agreement with her.

Teagarden said she wasn’t aware Crawford planned to turn over the letters until she brought them to the state police barracks to meet with a prosecutor in response to a subpoena related to the case.

Semple pointed out that when she turned over the letters, Crawford had also prepared a document listing portions she believed were incriminating.

Crawford said she was writing to Bauduin as a friend, and police never asked her to correspond with him or gave her specific questions to ask him.

“Nobody asked me to say anything,” she said.